"D" the Ranter is Colorado's #1 Multi-sport MLBlogger. The Rant is written from a fan's perspective and you can count on "D" to tell you exactly how it is. Tried and Tested…There's a reason the Rant kicks ass in Colorado.

Almost bought a F-ked truck

3/18/09

Remember my new to me/used truck? We purchased a truck a few days ago to help facilitate our move up to the mountains. It was a 2001 Ford F-150 Supercab XLT. Beautiful truck, a little high on mileage but it wasn’t going to be our daily driver. I really like this truck. It was my first Ford truck and I was nervous about buying an American made vehicle. I thought about it and figured how can I go wrong with this truck, it’s the most popular truck in America right?

I was driving home from south Denver on Monday and out of nowhere I heard a loud boom, like a small explosion. Then my truck started to pop like an old lawnmower. I pulled over into a Target parking lot and lifted the hood to access any visible damage.

With the hood up I immediately discovered laying on top of the engine a spark plug, rubber plug boot and fragments of a coil. This Ford Triton engine actually blew the spark plug out of the manifold.

I called the dealership to have the truck towed back there and then called my buddy “B” who lived nearby to see if he could rescue me. He did, thanks “B”.

When I got home I started to research Ford Triton engines. I couldn’t believe the plethora of information out there about Triton engines that habitually blow out spark plugs. This has happened to thousands of Ford Triton engines and Ford refuses to even acknowledge there is a problem.

I guess the issues stems from the aluminum heads and the lack of threads in the head to secure the spark plugs. Over time the pressure of the engine pops the plugs out.

A quick fix is around $700.00 with no guarantee that it won’t happen to the same plug again, or any other of the eight spark plugs at any given time.

So basically, the engine is a piece of sheet and if you fix it it’s a roll of the dice on whether the engine will go 10 miles or 50,000. I can’t live/drive like that. Ford will not fix this issue nor will it admit to the engine flaw.

For this reason I will never purchase a Ford product again. I really question why we bailed out Ford Motor Company when they won’t even back up the most popular product they manufacture. How can Ford ignore the thousands of people who are F-ked because they purchased one of these faulty engines?

I can’t support a company that doesn’t support it’s own faulty products. Ford ignores the same people whose money is allowing them to operate/stay afloat.

If you build a sheet product and don’t back it up, you deserve to fail. I’m not saying all Fords or Ford engines are crap, I’m only talking about my experience with the 2001 Ford Triton engine. I can honestly tell you that I’ll never know if any of the other Ford vehicles are any good because I’ll never purchase a Ford product again. I won’t buy a Chevy because of my broken key fiasco of last summer.

Anyways, the Dealer has a three day 150 mile return policy.

The day it broke was day five. When we first talked to the dealer they said, “The truck was sold as is”.

I gathered from that statement that they were going to try to screw me.

And they might have except for one thing, there was a small issue with the percentage rate of the loan. They needed to bump it up a half-of-a-percent and the paperwork would need to be resigned. It was Fed-Ex’ed and arrived the morning after the truck broke down.

There was no way we were going to sign the revised paperwork for a disabled truck. I waited to hear what the Dealers decision was before I played my hand. I was lucky, I didn’t have to play it. They stepped up to the plate, admitted the engine was F’ked and said you can get your trade and cash back or we can help you find another vehicle.

Had we signed the loan paperwork the day before,…who knows? So today we’re heading back out today to look at more trucks.

I’m thinking Toyota Tundra. The MPG isn’t as good but the reliability is there.At least the Triton engines do. Buyer beware…Who’d of thought it would be this damn hard to buy a good used truck. Sorry all, this truck thing has pulled my mind away from baseball and I need to resolve it before I can go forward.

I’ve been watching Helton’s numbers and it looks to me like “Sweet T” is back….D

7:30 PM

Just got back from Go Subaru. They had fixed the Ford Truck and said we could either take the “repaired” Ford truck, try and find another one, or get our deposit and my trade-in back.

We did a search and found the exact Toyota truck I was looking for. My brother has had one of these for years. It’s perfect.

sorry to hear that D. My sister hates ford to because we used to have a ford explorer in the 80’s & it was nothing but a crapper cuzz it kept breaking down almost all the time, ironic thing is, she ends up trading her Chevy truck for a ford F-150(I think that’s what is) back in Jan this year — she also used to work for Siltahar ford before Seth was born — so being the expert in all things that she (thinks) she is, she fixes the truck up herself because according to her “it’s f-ked up” (like everything else she’s “fixed”). I just think she’s f-ked up in the head & so does my step-dad.Missyhttp://rocktober-2007.mlblogs.com

Hey D,
That’s a drag about the truck. It’s nice that you can get something else but it doesn’t make up for the pain of having to deal with the 1st lemon. And it’s really too bad that Ford won’t acknowledge the problem. Do they think it will just go away if they pretend it doesn’t exist? Hope your next truck is problem free.
And yes, the Toddfather is back!

That sucks, I’m sorry 😦 My mom worked for GM for a long time and we only owned their vehicles–Dad has a 2007 Saturn Vue hybrid that he loves, Mom kept her 1995 GMC Yukon until last year. She broke down and bought a Prius, but only for the mileage. Broke her heart to buy something not made in the USA. If American carmakers can’t keep up with the increasing mileage from everyone else, they’re going to be in Lake Michigan without a paddle.
Kylie — http://kylie.mlblogs.com

D- I’ve heard Ford’s aren’t the best, I’m glad that the stars alligned and you got everything resolved. Also, that thing about the guy dying and no one knowing for five days… that was kind of depressing. I was sad for that dude.
Emily
deconstructingthoughts.mlblogs.com

CAROL-Welcome officially to the Rant (I know you’ve been reading a while). I thought about it and if I had had the hood up and my head inside looking at the engine at the time that spark plug blew. Hmm, I might not be responding to these comments.
EMILY, R-LUV, JULIA, KYLIE-Hi, If that Ford had lasted one more day I’d have owned a broken Ford that’s for sure. My first full day as a Toyota driver and all is good. This truck is much more me than the Ford…D

If you want to get a headache go to the Ford Truck Enthusiasts site. Its chuck full of people making excuses for Triton Plug Failure. I bought my Lemon 250 V10 triton new in 2000. I paid a lot of money for a truck with a built in self destruct mechanism. At exactly 100,000 miles it blew a plug. The photos in your rant look like they were taken of my truck. Its sad because of the vheicles Ive purchased new they have all been Fords. I will never buy another one. I do thank Ford for driving me to look at sites like yours.